Smart Materials are ones that can respond to environmental stimuli by exhibiting changes in properties (mechanical or physical), structure, composition or function. The growing interest in their development is driven by emerging applications and by the integration of smart materials into industrial systems for civilian, industrial, medical and military applications. Among them are composite multiferroic materials which exhibit two or more ferroic features such as ferromagnetism/magnetostriction, ferroelectricity/piezoelectricity or ferroelasticity/shape-memory effects due to their unusual responses: including very large magneto-electric susceptibility, giant magnetostriction and energy-coupling coefficients which approach unity. Other systems include shape-memory and magnetic shape-memory alloys, magnetostrictive materials, magnetorheological fluids and polymers. This volume highlights advances in the development of smart materials, with particular attention being paid to numerical modelling, fabrication methods, technologies, properties, sensing and processing capabilities. The coverage of these new capabilities, remarkable performance enhancement or cost reduction, new ideas and directions for future development will make the book essential reading for those working in materials engineering, mechanical engineering, theoretical and applied mechanics, electronics, electromechanics and manufacturing. Read more...
Smart Materials are ones that can respond to environmental stimuli by exhibiting changes in properties (mechanical or physical), structure, composition or function. This work highlights advances in the development of such materials, focusing on numerical modelling, fabrication methods, technologies, properties, sensing and processing capabilities. Read more...